PLUNKET SOCIETY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 205, 18 November 1927, Page 5

PLUNKET SOCIETY

AN "AT HOME” Despite a threatening afternoon and two or three heaVy showers, the attendance was good at the Huntly Plunket Society’s At Home, in the Tow.i Hall on Wednesday afternoon. Mrs. J. W. Robinson, president of the local branch, presided, and introduced Mrs. W. H. Parkes, president of the Auckland Plunket Society, and welcomed fier to Huntly, also extending a welcome to Mesdames Eyre, Joy, and Patterson, from the sister society at Ngaruawahia. Musical items were contributed by M's. J. Watson (piano), Miss Violet Burden (violin solo), while Mrs. C. Sherwin sang “Only a Baby Small Brought from the Skies.” Afternoon tea was supplied by a committee with Mrs. Thos. Brocklebank as secretary. Mrs. Parkes gave a splendid address and was listened to with interest by the members. Deploring the lack of a sympathetic Press to further the movement in favour of the Plunket system, Mrs. Parkes said: “Now that THE SUN has arrived, they will do it for us.” Eulogising Sir Truby King, and the late Lady King, and tracing the history of the movement from its foundation in Dunedin in 1907, under the first president, Lady Plunket, to the meeting at the Mansion Hall, London, in 1917, the speaker said that the present upkeep of the Karitane Hospital in Auckland was £2,300 above what is received from the Government subsidy. Emphasising the open air treatment and the great benefits therefrom, she pointed out that the practical slogan of the Plunket Society was the prevention of sickness. They were not healers, but the first essential was proper nutrition of the body. “A mother is always better if she nurses her own baby, and every necessary sacrifice a true woman will make for her baby,” continued Mrs. Parkes, who concluded her address with the remark: “Perfect motherhood is perfect patriotism.” A cordial vot£ of thanks was passed with acclamation on the motion of Mrs. Patterson. Among those present were: Mesdames Macdiarmid, Littleproud, Payze, Bell, Hall, Spiers, Aitken, Glass, Dodds, Bullough, Walked, Sherwin, Moyes, Watson,- Barclay and Sister Hilditch.